Instructions

ZOOM IN by clicking on the page. A slider will appear, allowing you to adjust your zoom level. Return to the original size by clicking on the page again.

MOVE the page around when zoomed in by dragging it.

ADJUST the zoom using the slider on the top right.

ZOOM OUT by clicking on the zoomed-in page.

SEARCH by entering text in the search field and click on "In This Issue" or "All Issues" to search the current issue or the archive of back issues
respectively.
.

PRINT by clicking on thumbnails to select pages, and then press the
print button.

SHARE this publication and page.

ROTATE PAGE allows you to turn pages 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.Click on the page to return to the original orientation. To zoom in on a rotated page, return the page to its original orientation, zoom in, and
then rotate it again.

CONTENTS displays a table of sections with thumbnails and descriptions.

ALL PAGES displays thumbnails of every page in the issue. Click on
a page to jump.

B7
Tuesday, December 31, 2013 www.guardian.co.tt Guardian
the departure of several companies,
and what they say has been a steady
rise in prices of key ingredients like
black beans, rice, cooking oil and pork.
"This has become difficult," said
Odalis Lozano, 48. "But we re still
here, because we can always make
some money."
For those without access to that
foreign cash line, the results have been
grim. Besides, the failed pizzeria, a
DVD salesman, seamstress and street-
side cafe owner who allowed the AP
to tell their stories shut down after
less than a year in business, citing
high monthly taxes, a lack of cus-
tomers and limited resources and busi-
ness sense.
The only two operations that rely
on everyday Cubans for revenue which
remain in business are gymnasiums.
One is run by Maria Regla Zaldivar,
who in 2011 was giving taekwondo
classes to children in Nuevo Vedado
and dreamed of converting a ruined
dry cleaning factory into a proper
gymnasium.
The factory remains a crumbling
shell, but Zaldivar said her business
continues. She declined to grant a
formal interview, but said in a brief
phone call that she had rented a small
space near her apartment and con-
tinued to give classes.
The other success story belongs to
Neysi Hernandez, the mother of Julio
Cesar Hidalgo s girlfriend. Hernandez
opened a simple gymnasium for
women in the courtyard and garage
of her home in Havana s La Lisa
neighborhood, charging the equivalent
of US$5 a month for membership.
Two years later, she has 25 paying
clients and ekes out a small profit.
Hernandez says her customers are
loyal, despite the fact the gymnasium
lacks basic amenities like a shower
room, lockers and towels. Unable to
afford imported equipment, Hernan-
dez uses sand-filled plastic water bot-
tles for weights. Her three exercise
bicycles and mechanical treadmill are
creaky and aging.
"My gymnasium is modest, but
they like it," Hernandez said, adding
she has dreams of one day installing
a small massage room and sauna. "A
little bit at a time."
For the pizza man Hidalgo, however,
the experience with private enterprise
has been a bitter one. He says he lost
between US$800 and US$1,000 on
the pizzeria. He is appealing a US$520
fine levied by tax authorities who
accuse him of understating his profits,
even though the business failed.
He has had bouts with illness, and
has been unemployed since the pizze-
ria closed in April.
Hidalgo says he has not given up
on the idea of opening a new business
one day. But he is also setting his
sights beyond Cuba s shores.
"What I wanted was to work and
make money so that I could live a
normal life, have money to buy myself
shoes, eat, and go out with my girl-
friend," Hidalgo said, punctuating each
modest desire with a flip of his hand
and a rueful smile. "I hope that kind
of work materialises in my country,
but if the opportunity presents itself
to work somewhere else, I won t turn
it down."
Recently, Hidalgo s girlfriend, Gis-
selle de la Noval, 25, took out a license
to operate a nail salon in the space
once occupied by the pizzeria. The
salon has been open a matter of weeks
and it is too soon to know if it will
do well. But she says she is content,
charging about 40 cents for a man-
icure and slightly more for a pedi-
cure.
"I don t miss the pizzeria, but I am
sad it wasn t a success," she says with
a shrug. "But I am young, so whatever.
Now I m dedicated to this." (AP)
Tourist-oriented businesses
faring slightly better
Gisselle de la Noval speaks with a client through the window of her nail salon,
which she runs out of her boyfriend's apartment where he previously ran a pizza
joint in Havana, Cuba. Noval turned the space into a nail salon after her
boyfriend's pizza joint failed. AP PHOTO
From Page B5